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The Willendorf Treaty
The treaty signed at Willendorf was not kind to Kain's children. Their freedom to hunt was now reigned in via strict limits on the number of humans they were permitted to take in a given period of time. Necessary rationing would soon find blood distribution favoring those strong enough to take it while fledglings often went hungry. Kain's children were permitted free roam of vampire territories but this territory was now limited to the western portion of the land. The east of Nosgoth now belonged to the humans with Willendorf as the hub of their realm. And while vampires won the right to propagate their species in limited numbers, this limited number was shared with their permitted rations. They would be forced to choose between food and reproduction. Furthermore, they were expressly forbidden to create new vampires through necromancy. As decreed by the treaty, desecration of the dead was strictly forbidden. On these terms, the humans and vampires existed together. Though the human victory would never truly last as long as vampires continued to exist, they enjoyed an uneasy stalemate with the monsters who had once ruled them. And though they often overstepped the limitations of the truce in various small ways, the vampires were content for a time to simply be free of conflict. Many humans took refuge in the Citadel, a stronghold largely secured against vampiric entry. Realizing the tenuous nature of this peace, they knew their time was borrowed and chose to live out the end of it in calm and relative prosperity. Yet others held out hope still and, rather than hole up like frightened animals, took advantage of their newfound freedom to spread across Nosgoth, raising new settlements and dedicating themselves to research of ancient history, weapons and magic to discover a new path to victory. Meanwhile, Kain's children bide their time. The human rebellion had only increased their paranoia and ego and, though they had struck an uneasy peace with humankind, they knew no such peace amongst each other. Some became convinced that it was a divided front which led to the shameful pact foisted upon them and strived to consolidate vampirekind under a singular rule so that they might regain their glory as Nosgoth's dominant life. Others turned back toward old grudges and petty ambition, seeking to claim Kain's empty throne for purely selfish reasons. Regardless of individual motivation, the clans would never truly be united again. And the remnants of Raziel's clan? Their only reward was doom. Betrayed by their wartime allies in the aftermath of the failed siege at Willendorf, the winged Razielim took to the skies and fled to the safety of a new home, the remnants of a mountaintop sanctuary once occupied by their absentee emperor, Kain. The world is in a perilous state. The vampires clamor to gain power over one another and the humans wander the land in a desperate search to restore Nosgoth's glory. Despite the treaty, both sides still wage a more subdued war in the form of smaller skirmishes and quieter conflicts across Nosgoth. Even when more noticeable battles break out, those who are not directly involved turn a blind eye to maintain the strained peace. And still greater enemies lurk unseen, their motivations as clouded as Nosgoth's future...